Times have certainly changed.I often find myself reminiscing about my past and when I was younger (a sure sign that I am indeed getting older and now a fully fledged adult with a full time job...)
I like to remember the times of Sixth Form College and University where going out most nights was pretty standard. I wouldn't always get absolutely blotto, but alcohol was usually involved (probably the number one cause for my out of shape body now.)
It was fun. I loved every second of it. Don't know if I could cope with it again now, but it was great at the time. American Pie was the teenage film of my era and I remember comparing early nights out to those house parties in American Pie. It was all about drinking, drunkenness and loosing the virginity.
For this generation, their teenage film of the moment to live their lives by is Project X. Unfortunately.
I just can't get over how shallow and hollow this film was and how much of a bleak outlook it gives for the teenage youth of today. Everyone seems to be drinking until they vomit (not content with the idea of underage drinking anymore, it has to be underage binge drinking.) Most people are kissing and sleeping with every single person they laid their eyes on (not holding out for that special someone as evident in American Pie.) And finally, absolutely every teenager seems to be a marijuana smoking, pill-popping druggie (in one scene of Project X, a heap load of Ecstasy is spilt on the floor and every single person surrounding it suddenly dives in and starts taking the pills.)
It's a vapid look on the supposed hedonistic lifestyles of the teenage youth of today, and I blame Skins. While I'm not denying that there must be teenagers who binge drink, there must also be teenagers who have copious amounts of meaningless sex or take drugs and there might even be some teenagers who do all three... But it's nigh on impossible that every single one of them is like this. In this case, Project X is so far stuck up a fantastical view of a teenagers lifestyle, it's hard to accept what is happening on the screen (unless I'm looking too far into it, and I probably am...)
Which brings me on to my next point. This film had absolutely no plot, whatsoever. If you've seen the trailer, you've basically seen the film. Young Thomas (Thomas Mann) is convinced by his friends, Costa (Oliver Cooper) and JB (Jonathan Daniel Brown) to throw the "ultimate" house party while his parents are away. Oh, and Dax (Dax Flame), the weird gothic high schooler, films it for them.
That's it. That really is it. There is a small subplot of Thomas fancying the girl who he has known for years and is thrown together for a very weak happy conclusion for the end of the film, but all the film really is, is an extended trailer of a big house party.
Thomas doesn't seem like he is the kind of kid to throw such a house party, which is why Costa spends the entire film moaning and whining at him to "let loose" and that it's all for them trying to have sex. It gets old, quite quickly.
Because of this constant pressure to throw the party from Costa, the film also comes across as quite mean spirited. It caters solely to boys aged between 13-21 - a midget is put in the oven and then punches everyone in the crotch when he is let out, a dog is attached to lots of balloons to make it fly and the fat strange friend (JB) is accused of having "special needs", because he is a virgin and fat... need I go on? Which is strange considering the film is rated 18 - it seems that the key targeted audience for this film are being cut off by the age rating.
So overall, unless you are a immature boy aged between 13-21 without an attention span of more than 10 seconds, I'd give Project X a massive miss. Because let's face it, if you've over 18, then why would you want to watch 90 minutes of other people drinking and having "fun" when you could be doing it yourself?!
* / *****
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